Barbarian Days: A Surfing Life

““Surfers are self-centered arseholes sometimes.” I’m sure the surf obsessed among us recognise this sentiment. It’s in that moment when your partner catches you looking out the window at the toetoe plants for wind directions, and checking the tides at the most inconvenient times of the day. I suspect this is why William Finnegan’s Pulitzer Prize-winning surfing biography is called Barbarian Days. However, Finnegan has made a valiant attempt to argue our case.””

“Is it cheating to recommend something that has won a Pulitzer, like, duh? But seriously I reread this one every year — banger of a memoir! The pull quote from the NYT describes it as the finest surf book (true), but I would say it is also a beautiful exploration of what it means to be good at something. Plus all the amazing surfing vernacular…”

“A yearly re-read”

“Charming, romantic, thrilling, but told in the most matter-of-fact voice. How incredible it is that someone who just happened to surf some of the most iconic waves in the world also just happens to be a writer of this caliber! This memoir did to me what great art always does to me—made me feel more alive.”